Rod feeder



April 29, 1969 A. F. HANSON ROD FEEDER Fild Dec. 20, 1966 lIllLIu 1| 1| n I Sheet 1 of 6 //v VE/V r01? ARTHUR F. HANSON Attorney April 29, 1969 A. F. HANSION ROD FEEDER y e mm%m T S 0 ,6 M f V H 0 WF. 3. m t R] AB vmm Fild Dec.

A. F. HANSON ROD FEEDER April 29, 1969 Sheet Filed Dec 20, 1966 A ril 29, 1969 A. F. HANSON 3,441,150

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United States Patent 3,441,150 ROD FEEDER Arthur F. Hanson, Proctor, Minn., assignor to United States Steel Corporation, a corporation of Delaware Filed Dec. 20, 1966, Ser. No. 603,375 Int. Cl. B65h /06, 1/00 US. Cl. 21426 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE This invention relates to apparatus for feeding elongated objects axially and more particularly to feeding rods into a rod grinding mill. These mills utilize a plurality of elongated rods which are arranged axially and loosely in a rotating chamber into which iron ore or the like is charged. Each of the two species of this disclosure in cludes a table which is mounted for longitudinal movement toward and away from the grinding mill. Means are provided on the forward end of the table for supporting the table on a portion of the rod mill as it is fed forwardly. The table carries a plurality of driven rollers thereon which feed the rod into the mill after the table has been fed forwardly. Guides support a plurality of rods in a generally vertical pile adjacent the rollers and means are provided to feed rods one by one to the rollers. The two species differ in the vehicles which support the table.

In one particular type of mill of which I have knowledge ten rods are used and these rods must be replaced once a day because they become worn due to grinding to such an extent that they can no longer accomplish their purpose.

Prior to my invention the rods were charged by the use of various types of apparatus and methods. However, none have proved to be entirely satisfactory.

It is therefore an object of my invention to provide apparatus which can feed elongated objects axially and rapidly.

Another object is to provide such apparatus which can charge rods into a rod mill with accuracy and speed.

These and other objects will be more apparent after referring to the following specification and attached drawings, in which:

FIGURE 1 is a schematic plan view of two rod mills with the apparatus of my invention positioned with respect thereto;

FIGURE 2 is a top plan view of the first embodiment of my invention;

FIGURE 3 is a view taken on the line IIIIII of FIG- URE 2;

FIGURE 3a is an enlarged detail of the left end of FIGURE 3;

FIGURE 4 is a view taken on the line IV-IV of FIG- URE 2;

FIGURE 5 is an elevation taken from the left side of FIGURE 4;

FIGURE 6 is an elevation of rod handling apparatus;

FIGURE 60: is a view of the apparatus of FIGURE 6 positioned at a loading table;

FIGURE 7 is a view taken on the line VIIVII of FIGURE 6;

FIGURE 8 is a view taken on the line VIIIVIII of FIGURE 6a;

FIGURE 9 is a view taken on the line XIXI of FIG- URE 8;

FIGURE 10 is a plan view of a second embodiment of my invention;

FIGURE 11 is a view taken on the line XI--XI of FIGURE 10;

3,441,150 Patented Apr. 29, 1969 "ice FIGURE 12 is a view taken on the line XIIXII of FIGURE 10; and

FIGURE 13 is an enlarged view taken on the line XIII-XIII of FIGURE 12.

Referring more particularly to the drawing, reference numeral 2 indicates spaced rod mills arranged with their axes in alignment. Material to be ground is fed into the rear of the rod mill 2 through conveyors 4. A trommel 6 is provided at the front end of each mill 2. It will be seen that the trommel 6 has a substantially horizontal flat surface. It is over this trommel that the rods R are charged into the mill. The parts so far described are conventional. It will be understood that additional pairs of rod mills 2 may be provided.

According to my invention I provide a pair of spaced rails 8 which are arranged between the rod mills 2 transversely of the axes thereof and a second pair of rails 10 parallel to and in between the rails 8. The rails 10 extend to a position adjacent a monorail 12. A rod charger 14 is supported on the rails 8. As best shown in FIGURES 2 to 4, the rod charger 14 includes a carriage 16 having flanged wheels 18 which are supported on the rails 8. A pair of rails 20 in the form of inverted angles are mounted on top of and extend longitudinally of the carriage 16. A longitudinally movable table 22 is mounted on the rails 20 by means of wheels 24. There are three wheels 24 on the side of the table 22 facing the monorail 12 and only one central wheel 24 on the opposite side. The table 22 is moved along the rails 20 by means of a motoreducer 26, chain 28 which passes around sprockets 30 and 32, a pinion 34 mounted for rotation with sprocket 32, and a rack 36 in mesh with the pinion 34. The motoreducer 26 and all parts of the drive, except for rack 36 are mounted on the carriage 16. The rack 36 is mounted on the underside of one of two longitudinal channels 38 forming the main part of the table 22. A plurality of rollers 40, shown as nine in number, are mounted on the channels 38. Each roller 40 has a central peripheral groove 42 therein for receiving an endless V-belt 44 which passes around all of the rollers 40. The rollers 40 are grooved, rather than cylindrical, so as to better receive the rods R. The purpose of the V-belt 44 is to increase the friction between the rod and the rollers. A roller 46 is mounted on each end of the table 22 in alignment with the rollers 40. The rollers 46, except for the omission of central groove 42, are the same as the rollers 40. The rollers 40 and 46 are driven from a motoreducer 48 by a chain and sprocket drive 50. Mounted at each end of the table 22 is a rocker arm 52 having a support roller 54 at one end and a hold down roller 56 at the other end. The arm 52 is pivoted intermediate its ends on pin 58 which is below the top of the rollers 40' and 46. A stop plate 60 is fastened to the bottom of channels 38 for a purpose which will appear later.

A fiat car 62 is mounted on the rails 10. The car 62 (see FIGURES 4 and 5 includes a pair of flanged wheels 64 on each side which are driven by means of a motor 66 through a chain and sprocket drive 68. A mast or guide 76 extends upwardly at a slight angle, such as 5%, to the vertical and carries lift mechanism 72, similar to that on a forklift truck. A pair of guide plates 74 also extend upwardly from the car 62 parallel to the mast 70 and spaced therefrom to provide a space 75 for receiving the rods R. The plates 74 are connected by means of the structural work shown in FIGURE 5. The top of the guide plates 74 are provided with a ramp 76 for directing the rods R to the rollers 40 and 46. A stop 78 on the table 22 prevents the rods is provided with a bumper bar 80 so that it may be pushed by the car 62 or the charger 14 may be pulled by means of a pivotally mounted hook 82 on the car 62 which engages the bumper bar 80.

from rolling too far. The charger 14.

The rods R may be transported to the car 62 in a rack 84 (see FIGURES 6, 6a and 7) which includes two side members 86 and 88 connected at their top by two lifting bars 90 and at their bottoms by two angles 92. Side piece 86 includes vertical angles 86A connected by top and bottom channels 863 and 86C and by bracing 86D. Each lifting bar 90 includes a hole 90A for receiving a ring 90B with a sling 90C attached to the ring 90B. A hinge pin 90D secures the lifting bars to the side 86 and a removable pin 90E secures the bar to the side 88. A hinge pin 92A secures each angle 92 to the side 88. A removable pin 92D secures the angle 92 to the side 86. An angle 88A is attached to the side 88 adjacent the bottom for a purpose which will appear later. Adjacent the storage area, not shown, is a loading table 93 which has a sloping top 93A and a channel 933 at the exit end below the top 93A. A feed wheel 94 is mounted on each end of a shaft 96 adjacent the discharge end of the table 93. The wheels 94 each have five grooves 98 therein for receiving the rods R. The shaft 96 is rotated by a hand wheel 100 through pinion 102 and gear 104. A stand 106 spaced from the discharge end of table 92 has a channel 108 connected thereto.

The operation is as follows:

A bundle of ten rods R is placed on the loading table 93 in any suitable manner. The rack 84 is attached by means of the sling 90C to a crane 110 which is supported on monorail 12. The rack is then lowered to the position shown in broken lines in FIGURE 6a with side 88 resting on channels 93B and 108 and with angle 88A bearing against channel 108 to prevent movement of the rack. The pins 90E are removed and the lifting bars 90 moved out of the way as shown in broken lines. The hand wheel 100 is turned to feed the rods R one at a time into the lifting rack 84. When the rack 84 is filled with ten rods, the lifting bars 90 are then repinned with the pins 90E and the crane 110 raises the rack 84 and transports the rods to the flat car 62. In the meantime, the flat car posi tions the charger 14 into charging position in front of the mills 2 and then moves to a position adjacent the monorail 12. The rack 84 is lowered with the rods in the opening 75 between the mast 70 and guides 74. The pins 92D are then removed and the rack 84 moved upwardly leaving the rods R in position on the flat car 62. The car 62 then moves to a position abutting the charger 14 as shown in FIGURE 4. The rod lifter 72 then raises the rods R until the top rod is above the top of guides 74 so that it can roll down the guides 76 and rest on the rolls 40 and 46. Assuming that the mill 2 at the left of FIGURE 1 is to be charged, the motor 26 is set in operation to move the table 22 to the left. As the forward end of the table leaves the carriage 16 the arm 52 will drop by gravity in a counter clockwise direction and the support roller 54 will contact the trommel 6 pushing the rocker arm 52 up against the stop plate 60 as shown in FIGURE 3a. Thus, the support roller 54 will support the forward end of the table 22 and the hold down roller 56 is positioned above the rollers 40 and 46 a sufiicient amount to allow a rod R to pass below it in contact therewith. It will be seen that the hold down roller 56 at the opposite end is out of the way so it will not interfere with the rod feeding operation. After the table 22 has moved to its most forward position, motor 48 is operated in such a direction as to cause the rollers 40 and 46 to feed the rods into the mill 2. The table remains in this forward position until all ten rods have been fed into the mill.

After the rods R have been fed, table 22 is withdrawn from the mill by reversing the direction of rotation of motor 26. During this movement the support roller 54 will drop to a near straight down position until it makes contact with inclined bumper plate 106 which will push the roller 54 upwardly to the same elevation as rails 20. The right hand mill can then be similarly charged.

FIGURES to 13 show a second embodiment of my invention which includes a table 22 having essentially the same construction as the table 22 so that corresponding parts are indicated by priming the reference characters applied to the parts of table 22. It will be noted that only six rolls 40' are provided as compared to nine rolls 40 on table 22. The drive of rolls 40 and 46' is from the motor 48 in the same manner as the first embodiment. Table 22' is moved on tracks 20 by motor 26 in the same manner as in the first embodiment. The rails 20' are mounted on frame of a truck 122. This is a standard production unit preferably having four supporting wheels 124 which may be independently steered to provide maneuverability. The truck is also preferably provided with a telescoping boom 126 supporting a crane (not shown). Four support brackets 130 are mounted on the side of the frame 120 with their lower ends below the top of the wheels 124. Four cradle sections 132 are hinged to the brackets 130 by means of pins 134. The cradle sections 132 have inter-connecting supports 135 so that they will rotate as a single cradle 136 above the hinge pins 134. Each of the cradles includes a generally vertical guide plate 137 which slopes inwardly at a slight angle toward the rollers 40 and has a guide section 138 sloping downwardly toward the rollers 40'. Spaced from the guide plate 137 and attached to the bottom thereof is a pipe guide 140. A lifting bar 141 is slidably mounted in each of the two inside tubes 140. The bars 141 are connected at their upper ends by means of a lifting beam 142 which is adapted to be engaged by a sling 144 attached to the crane. It will be seen that an opening 146 is provided between guides 137 and so as to receive a plurality of rods R. Two spaced apart books 148 are mounted on the frame 120 and a pin 150 is mounted on each of the adjacent guide plates 137 so as to lock the rod cradle in generally vertical position. A bottom leg 156 of each lifting bar 141 extends into the opening 146 through a slot 158 in the guide 140 and supports the rods R.

In operation, the truck 122 is moved to a position adjacent the loading table 93 and ten rods R are placed on the loading table 93 and the cradle 132 is lowered to the broken line position shown in FIGURE 12 with the tubes 140 resting on top of channels 93B and 108 and the sling 144 detached from the crane hook. By means of feed control wheels 94 the cradle is filled one rod at a time. When the cradle is full the sling 144 is re-hooked to the crane and raised to its vertical position, after which the hooks 148 are placed over the pins 150. The truck 122 is then moved to a position in front of the mill 2 which is to be charged and the operation then proceeds as in the first embodiment. It will be understood that conventional controls will be provided for the various motors.

I claim:

1. Apparatus for feeding elongated objects axially into processing equipment having a generally horizontal surface at its entry end comprising a table, a plurality of driven rollers on said table for feeding said objects axially, means for supporting said table for movement toward and away from said processing equipment, means on the forward end of said table adapted to contact said horizontal surface, means for automatically positioning said last named means to contact said horizontal surface when said table is fed into said processing equipment, and means for feeding said objects one at a time to said rollers.

2. Apparatus according to claim 1 in which the means on the forward end of said table adapted to contact said horizontal surface includes a rocker arm pivotally mounted intermediate its ends on said table below the top of said rollers, a support roller mounted on one end of said rocker arm and positioned above said horizontal surface when said carriage is in retracted position, a hold down roller mounted on the other end of said rocker arm, a stop plate mounted on said table below the pivot of said rocker arm on the entry end thereof, said arm pivoting against said stop plate to lower said support roller into engagement with said horizontal surface as said table moves forwardly and to raise said hold down roller to a position where it can bear against the top of said object, and means on said table for pivoting said arm in the reverse direction to its original position.

3. Apparatus according to claim 1 in which said means for feeding said objects one at a time to said rollers includes generally vertical spaced guides extending longitudinally adjacent said driven rollers to a position above the top of said driven rollers, said guides being spaced apart a distance slightly greater than the diameter of said objects and having a height such that a plurality of said elongated objects can be received therebetween one above the other, and means engaging the lowest object in said guides and raising said objects in said guides to discharge one object at a time from the top of said guides to said driven rollers.

4. Apparatus according to claim 3 in which the means on the forward end of said table adapted to contact said horizontal surface includes a rocker arm pivotally mounted intermediate its ends on said table below the top of said rollers, a support roller mounted on one end of said rocker arm and positioned above said horizontal surface when said carriage is in retracted position, a hold down roller mounted on the other end of said rocker arm, a stop plate mounted on said table below the pivot of said rocker arm on the entry end thereof, said arm pivoting against said stop plate to lower said support roller into engagement with said horizontal surface as said table moves forwardly and to raise said hold down roller to a position where it can bear against the top of said object, and means on said table for pivoting said arm in the reverse direction to its original position.

5. Apparatus according to claim 3 in which each of said driven rollers has a central peripheral groove therein, and an endless belt extending around said driven rollers in said grooves.

6. Apparatus according to claim 5 in which the means on the forward end of said table adapted to contact said horizontal surface includes a rocker arm pivotally mounted intermediate its ends on said table below the top of said rollers, a support roller mounted on one end of said rocker arm and positioned above said horizontal surface when said carriage is in retracted position, a hold down roller mounted on the other end of said rocker arm, a stop plate mounted on said table below the pivot of said rocker arm on the entry end thereof, said arm pivoting against said stop plate to lower said support roller into engagement with said horizontal surface as said table moves forwardly and to raise said hold down roller to a position where it can bear against the top of said object, and means on said table for pivoting said arm in the reverse direction to its original position.

7. Apparatus according to claim 6 including a carriage for supporting said table, rails extending transversely of said table for supporting said carriage for movement normal to the movement of said table, a car for supporting said spaced guides, and means for supporting said car for transverse movement toward and away from said carriage.

8. Apparatus according to claim 7 including means on said car for moving it transversely, and means for connecting said car and carriage for movement together.

9. Apparatus according to claim 8 in which there is processing equipment at each end of said table, and each end of said table has a rocker arm pivotally mounted intermediate its ends on said tabe below the top of said rollers, a support roller mounted on one end of said rocker arm and positioned above said horizontal surface when said carriage is in retracted position, a hold down roller mounted on said table below the pivot of said rocker arm on the entry end thereof, said arm pivoting against said stop plate to lower said support roller into engagement with said horizontal surface as said table moves forwardly toward the adjacent processing equipment and to raise said hold down roller to a position where it can bear against the top of said object, and means on said table for pivoting said arm in the reverse direction to its original position.

10. Apparatus according to claim 6 including a wheeled vehicle for supporting said table and spaced apart guides, and means on said wheeled vehicle for moving it normal to the movement of said table.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,816,327 7/1931 Hise 198130 X 2,921,699 1/1960 Walters 214-18 X 3,045,846 7/1962 Clark 214310 3,169,642 2/1965 Clark 2141 3,337,066 L 8/1967 Reed et al 214-38 ROBERT G. SHERIDAN, Primary Examiner.

US. Cl. X.R.

U.S. DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE PATENT OFFICE Washington, 0.6. 20231 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE CERTIFICATE OF CORRECTION Patent No 3 ,441 ,150 April 29 1969 Arthur F. Hanson It is certified that error appears in the above identified patent and that said Letters Patent are hereby corrected as shown below:

Column 1, line 66, "XI-XI" should read IX-IX Column 6, line 17, "tabe" should read table line 21, after "on" insert the other end of said rocker arm, a stop plate mounted Signed and sealed this 21st day of April 1970.

(SEAL) Attest:

WILLIAM E. SCHUYLER, JR.

Edward M. Fletcher, Jr.

Commissioner of Patents Attesting Officer 

